Selling For Financial Service Professionals: How To Build Your Book Of Business With Affluent Women

Were you aware that... financial service companies are the leading industry in marketing to women for a very good reason: their livelihood depends on knowing where the money is, and where it’s going.

However there are still a few investment, insurance and banking professionals who are surprised to learn that women are today's largest and fastest-growing market opportunity in financial services.

They bring home the majority of the income in most households, they initiate most couples’ decisions to seek out a financial advisor, and they do the lion’s share of the research to decide which professionals will get a chance at the business. The amazing punchline? Women investors are almost never prospected! Getting savvy on these and other gender secrets will help you secure your share of women’s widening wallets.

Come to this entertaining and useful presentation to get the inside scoop on:

Networking - You know it isn't the same as guy-to-guy: now learn what to do instead.

Three things women do in sales sessions that don’t mean what you think

Five things you learned in sales training that will cost you business with women customers

The Sally Field Scenario: Making sure she likes you, she really likes you!

"Women are staying single longer, half the marriages end in divorce, wives outlive their husbands-women are realizing they've got to take control of their financial future," says Jennifer Marconi, a financial planner and president of Marconi Asset Management in Chicago.

Indeed, 90% of women are responsible for their own finances at some point in their lives, according to the National Center for Women and Retirement Research at Long Island University in South Hampton, N.Y. Yet, according to the American Savings Education Council in Washington, D.C., a combination of genetic and societal factors often place women in a more vulnerable financial position than men:

Women, on average, live about 5 1/2 years longer than men, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

While they've narrowed the salary gap, women overall still earn 22.5% less than men, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Women more often leave their careers to care for children or elderly parents.

The combination of lower wages and years away from the workforce frequently results in women building less retirement income.

Making the goal of financial independence more daunting is the sense of ignorance and intimidation some women feel when it comes to investing, says financial planner Ellen S. Rogin, president of Strategic Financial Designs Inc., an advisory firm based in Northfield.

"Many women are not confident investors because they often lack the background in finances," Ms. Rogin says. "Boys often talk with their fathers about finances, but not girls."

To ease the investment experience for women, Wall Street investment firms, large bank groups and financial planners are developing an array of new financial services targeting female investors.

The average American woman controls 80% of the spending decisions in the typical dual earner household. The Prime Time Woman controls the spending decisions in America’s most affluent households.

And that dynamic is set to accelerate over the next 20 years because not long after the largest generation in history – the Baby Boomers – inherit from their parents, Baby Boomer wives will in turn inherit from their husbands. That means the combined assets of two generations – from both sides of the family – will become concentrated in Baby Boom widows’ wallets.

That makes Prime Time Women by far the most lucrative marketing target for a substantial number of industries – banking, brokerage, insurance, health and wellness, real estate, travel and self-improvement, to name a few.

Yesterday’s “little old lady” will be tomorrow’s Ms Moneybags. Marketers unable to let go of outdated notions about men carrying the cash, and consumers shutting down spending at age 55, will find themselves outflanked and outrun by savvy companies eager to serve America’s target market bulls-eye – Prime Time Women.

Women will acquire over 90% of the growth in U.S. private wealth between now and 2010. Have you thought about how women will become an increasing proportion of the U.S. affluent population as the Baby Boom ages? Are you reaching out to these consumers and investors, or are you doing business as usual - marketing to men (and leaving the women to your competition)?

Simply put:

Women are the world's largest market

They account for 80% of all spending by U.S. households

They account for 70% of new business startups

They control over half the private wealth in the United States

Women control 51.3% of U.S. private wealth and own 47% of investment portfolios worth over $500K.

About the Author:

Marti Barletta is the author of Marketing to Women and President of The TrendSight Group